Increased FBAR penalty for 38 Foreign Banks and Facilitators

August 1, 2015

According to the 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure (hereinafter: “OVDP”), the offshore penalty of 27.5% increases to a 50% penalty in any of the following circumstances:

  1. The foreign financial institution where the account is held, or another facilitator who assisted in establishing or maintaining the taxpayer’s offshore arrangement, is or has been under investigation by the IRS or the Department of Justice in connection with accounts that are beneficially owned by a U.S. person;
  2. The foreign financial institution or other facilitator is cooperating with the IRS or the Department of Justice in connection with accounts that are beneficially owned by a U.S. person;
  3. The foreign financial institution or other facilitator has been identified in a court- approved issuance of a summons seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold financial accounts (a “John Doe summons”) at the foreign financial institution or have accounts established or maintained by the facilitator. 

Once the 50% offshore penalty applies to any of the taxpayer’s accounts, the 50% offshore penalty will apply to all of the taxpayer’s assets subject to the penalty, including accounts held at another institution or established through another facilitator for which there have been no events constituting public disclosures.

The updated list through August 3rd, 2015, is as follows:

  1. UBS AG
  2. Credit Suisse AG, Credit Suisse Fides, and Clariden Leu Ltd.
  3. Wegelin & Co.
  4. Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG
  5. Zurcher Kantonalbank
  6. Swisspartners Investment Network AG, Swisspartners Wealth Management AG, Swisspartners Insurance Company SPC Ltd., and Swisspartners Versicherung AG
  7. CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited, its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  8. Stanford International Bank, Ltd., Stanford Group Company, and Stanford Trust Company, Ltd.
  9. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India (HSBC India)
  10. The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (also known as Butterfield Bank and Bank of Butterfield), its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  11. Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd., its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  12. Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M., The Bank Leumi le-Israel Trust Company Ltd, Bank Leumi (Luxembourg) S.A., Leumi Private Bank S.A., and Bank Leumi USA
  13. BSI SA
  14. Vadian Bank AG
  15. Finter Bank Zurich AG
  16. Societe Generale Private Banking (Lugano-Svizzera) SA
  17. MediBank AG
  18. LBBW (Schweiz) AG
  19. Scobag Privatbank AG
  20. Rothschild Bank AG
  21. Banca Credinvest SA
  22. Societe Generale Private Banking (Suisse) SA
  23. Berner Kantonalbank AG
  24. Bank Linth LLB AG
  25. Bank Sparhafen Zurich AG
  26. Ersparniskasse Schaffhausen AG
  27. Privatbank Von Graffenried AG
  28. Banque Pasche SA
  29. ARVEST Privatbank AG
  30. Mercantil Bank (Schweiz) AG
  31. Banque Cantonale Neuchateloise
  32. Nidwaldner Kantonalbank
  33. SB Saanen Bank AG
  34. Privatbank Bellerive AG
  35. PKB Privatbank AG
  36. Falcon Private Bank AG
  37. Credito Privato Commerciale in liquidazione SA (CPC)
  38. Bank EKI Genossenschaft